


can't get you out my mind / you're still home

by sakurasgf (sanacult)



Category: Naruto
Genre: 5+1 Things, Dialogue Heavy-ish, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Making Out, Moving In Together, basically sakuino throughout the years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 13:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30106734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanacult/pseuds/sakurasgf
Summary: And when next month comes, Ino is standing barefoot on the wooden floor surrounded by various boxes and taking a break from moving them. Sakura comes up behind her and hugs her, skin warm even through the thick layer of Ino's sweater. “You're thinking too loud.”“Shut up,” she laughs and smacks Sakura's arm lightly. “Just reminiscing. I spent most of my life here, you know? This room remembers my short hair.” They both laugh at that and Ino interlocks her fingers with Sakura's. It's not like her to be nostalgic, but if the walls in this room could speak, she's sure they would tell a million stories. And she would sit down and listen, even if she's the main character in all of them.or; Ino's room, throughout the years.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	can't get you out my mind / you're still home

**Author's Note:**

> listen... i just wanted something short silly and sweet with those two because ive rewatched a few fillers lol

**1**

There is one thing all the girls Ino knows take seriously: sleepovers. She's been at a few of them in the past, but this time it's her turn to organise one. Well, at least one that is not her, Choji and Shikamaru sharing a futon in the living room. She cleans her room, begs her mom to make three different types of cookies and takes out all the popular movie DVDs. 

And then, at the last moment, she decides to invite Sakura even though they haven't really talked since they fought each other at the exam. She knocks on the apartment’s door and Sakura’s mom looks more than surprised when she sees her, but lets her in nevertheless. Sakura's seated by her desk in the corner of her room, various scrolls laid out in front of her. Ino focuses her eyes on the small handmade dolls representing Team Seven as she clears her throat. 

Sakura turns around at light speed and looks at her with wide eyes. “Ino?” 

“Hi, I, uh. So—” It's frustrating how she stumbles over her words, but it feels like she's walking on eggshells when talking to Sakura. “There's a sleepover at my place tonight and I thought you might want to go. Your mom said you can if you want to.”

She busies herself with the hem of her shirt and imagines all the different outcomes of this conversation. After a beat of silence, Sakura finally answers, “Fine. See you there.” Invisible weight lifts from her shoulders. 

Ino is not a  _ good _ host. All the other girls knew how to move between the kitchen and living room smoothly, how to serve food and how to entertain guests; Ino doesn't, because she never had a reason to learn all of this. Choji and Shikamaru move around her house like it's theirs too, and as a future heir she never had to take the etiquette lessons her cousins did. She carries herself clumsily the whole evening, but nobody seems to notice. The movies are interesting enough that they get bored only at the end of the third one, and the cookies are almost gone once it's time to get ready for bed. 

Sakura talks to her only when everyone else is soundly asleep on the carpeted floor after a few rounds of board games. Her sleeping bag is the closest to Ino's bed, so it's not hard for her to tug Ino's sleeve and check if she's awake. “Thanks for inviting me,” she whispers. “I know we— I know  _ I  _ wasn't the nicest to you and then at the exam you—”

“Hey, it's fine. Even best friends fight sometimes.” Ino grins. “What's important is that we've made up, right?” Sakura nods shyly. “We should even out your hair, you know.” 

“I tried to do it at home, but I couldn't really see the back, so I left it.” She pouts and puts a hand on the top of her head. “And I was thinking of giving myself bangs—”

“ _ No. _ I told you already, don't cover up your forehead. We can cut it in the morning if you want.” 

“Fine, fine. Goodnight, then.”

“Yeah, goodnight.” 

They turn around and Ino starts falling asleep, when Sakura's voice wakes her up again. “I'm glad we're friends again.”

“We never stopped, dummy,” she manages to get out before the sleepiness takes over.

**2**

“Tsunade-sama says my healing gets better every week,” Sakura announces proudly. “And she's teaching me new moves, too.” She grins and Ino can only do the same from where she's sprawled on the floor. “How about you?” 

“Asuma kicks our asses like always,” she answers. “But Anko-san is finally teaching me how to make stronger poisons. She's thinking of giving me a senbon soon. I'm not as good as you, though.” 

“Hey, don't say that! Poisons are way harder than medical ninjutsu. You can feel and control chakra as much as you want, but poisons are something you actually need to think about.” Sakura turns around in Ino’s chair and furrows her brows.

“I guess that's true. But you're still better at fighting hand to hand than me. My technique is long range, but I need to at least manage until the rest of the team arrives.” She huffs a strand of hair from her face. 

“Do you want to practice what I learned today?” Ino props herself up on her elbows and looks at her questioningly. “Tsunade-sama says these moves come in handy.” 

Ino's tired from team training and the heat of the summer but she agrees anyway. It's always been easy to agree to whatever Sakura proposes, simply because it's always been enjoyable to do things with her. Fighting is no different — Sakura guides Ino's arms into the correct positions, explains certain moves, tells her what will be useful to her and what won't. And even if Ino already heard all of this from Asuma, it sounds so much easier when Sakura says it. 

And then Sakura spars with her in the middle of the room, knocking over a plant from Ino's desk and falling down with it. She lands starfish style on the carpet and laughs, leaves in her hair. Ino sits down next to her and smiles, massaging her arm from a stronger punch. It feels so relieving to see Sakura happy, to see her doing things she likes, especially after Ino saw her cry over and over again because of her teammates. 

Sakura calms down and looks at her, the afternoon light shining onto her, and Ino suddenly feels breathless. And it's then that the realisation hits her, strong and without mercy, when she's fourteen and in the middle of her room surrounded by dirt: she's in love with her.

“What? I'll clean this up, no need to glare, you know.” 

**3**

It's the dead of the night when Ino hears a knock on her window. She's always been a light sleeper, so she's up in no time, opening it; she doesn't even need to check who her guest is. It's an unspoken agreement between her and Sakura, to see each other first after a long mission, and Sakura spent a week in the Swamp Village, on the other end of Water Country. 

Sakura staggers into the room and Ino manages to catch her before she hits the floor. “Woah, there. Tired much?” she asks, but then she catches the red smudge on Sakura’s cheek. She moves to turn her night lamp on, and something twists in her stomach once she sees the state her friend is in. There's blood all over Sakura’s face, some of it trailing down to her neck and clothes. Ino’s eyes flicker frantically all over her features, hands gripping her shoulders a bit stronger. “Sakura? What happened? You look—”

“I killed someone,” Sakura states, emotionless. Her eyes are foggy,  _ empty _ in the light of Ino’s night lamp. Ino’s heart drops to her stomach. “This isn't my blood.” 

Ino leads her to the bed and sits her down before running to the bathroom for a towel. She wets it with warm water and goes back to her room on shaky legs. Sakura’s sitting in the same position Ino left her in, staring at the wall in front of her. She doesn't flinch when Ino holds her chin and starts wiping the blood from her face. Ino herself spaces out, hands moving on autopilot and eyes not registering anything in front of her, until something warm touches her skin.  _ Sakura’s crying. _

Ino drops to her knees and forgets the towel that now paints her sheets red to hold Sakura’s face in her palms. She wipes the tears with her thumbs and hopes the circular movement will calm her down somehow. It doesn't; the tears are still flowing and Sakura isn't doing or saying anything and Ino feels helpless, useless. She wants to cry, too.

But Sakura needs someone to be strong now. “Sakura, talk to me.” No reply. “Sakura,” she repeats, louder and firmer, then tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. Sakura’s eyes find hers for the first time this evening and it's as if something breaks behind them. She lets out a sob and all Ino can do is climb onto the bed and pull her into an embrace. Ino's pants are wet from the towel and her shirt is soaking from Sakura’s tears, but she cradles her and sways back and forth. “Saku,  _ please. _ Say something,” she whispers into her hair, tries again after the sobs quiet down into hiccups and whimpers. 

“We were on our way back,” Sakura starts, voice shaky. “We set out a camp for the night, and it was my turn to keep guard when they ambushed us. Some no-name shinobi, but they had skills.” A shiver goes down her spine and Ino's hand runs right after it. Sakura takes a deep breath, braces herself. “One got me from the behind. I didn't think much about it, just turned around and aimed my kunai…” she stops, shakes her head and cries again. Ino can guess what happened next.

“The artery.” It's not a question, only a mere fact. It explains the amount of blood. Sakura forces herself to nod and then clings to Ino like a drowning man to a lifeline for the rest of the night. Ino whispers random words into the crown of her head, hums old lullabies until she exhauts herself and falls limp in Ino's arms, her weight grounding her down. 

Ino takes Sakura’s right hand in hers and traces the inside of her palm with her fingertips. She can imagine it gripping the kunai, landing the fatal blow; the hand of a killer. But to Ino, it's the same hand that weaved flowers into her hair, the same hand that holds hers like it was made of glass. It's the hand that will make antidotes and treat the injured starting tomorrow afternoon. And it's the hand that will kill again, sometime in the future, because this is who they are; this is who they wanted to be. 

And that's why Ino took it so well, she supposes. Her father comes back home in the middle of the night and doesn't talk to anyone for two days after that, sometimes. Yamanakas are taught techniques exclusively to kill once they make chunin, and Ino had seen Asuma kill an enemy once in front of her. But Sakura is different; civilians made ninjas don't think about the deaths of others as much as they think of their own. They think they will never have to go as far as murder, and then when they do, they break down. Sakura has been a medic most of the time, saving lives instead of taking them, and Ino knows it'll take her some time to get over it. Ino will be with her through it all. 

She stays awake the whole night in case Sakura wakes up. She doesn't, and in the morning Ino tells her to stay in her bed, then makes her tea and lays down next to her again. “Thank you,” Sakura croaks out, “for everything.” Ino smiles gently and puts a hand on her cheek.

“I'm glad you're feeling better.”

**4**

“Remind me, why are we doing this again?” Sakura asks from where she's seated on Ino’s thighs, three different lip glosses in hand. 

“Because it's our first girl's night out since the war that's not barbecue bar after eleven hours of hospital work and I want to look as good as humanly possible,” Ino informs and pats her arm. “Get to work, Forehead.” 

Sakura sighs and leans forward, Ino's hands flying to her hips to stabilise her. One of Sakura's hands holds Ino's jaw and the other one begins to spread the pink one over her lips with the brush. “I don't think we need to try the other colors, this one suits you well,” she observes and Ino hums, trying not to pay attention to how close Sakura is to her. She just hopes Sakura can't feel how fast her heart is beating.

“Are you sure? It's all glossy, I don't want it to leave marks everywhere. Maybe let's try the matte one?”

A thumb on her bottom lip catches her off guard; her breath hitches and eyes widen, and it's by sheer willpower that she doesn't tense up under Sakura. The finger is gone as quickly as it appeared. Sakura shows her the pad, one eyebrow quirked up. “Didn't leave a mark.” Ino lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, but then the warm touch is on her lip again and  _ swipes it _ , and  _ oh, _ maybe bleeding to death would be less stressful than this. 

The thumb remains at the corner of her mouth and Ino feels her blood rush to her face when she spots  _ something  _ in Sakura's eyes. “Doesn't smudge, either.” It's only now that Ino notices just how close they've gotten; noses almost touching and her hands sliding from Sakura's hips to the skin on her thighs not covered by the cotton shorts. It makes her dizzy, makes the alarm at the back of her head go off, but it's impossible to break eye contact now. Ino is supposed to be the one that controls minds between the two of them, but it feels like Sakura is taking that role right now. “But it’s a bit… sticky,” she says, eyes not leaving Ino’s. 

“Are you sure? Maybe you should check again.” 

They've been toeing this line for ages now, always close enough to cross it, but at the same time far enough to back away when it got too much. Hugs always lasted seconds too long and sometimes Sakura's fingers wandered a bit too much when tending Ino’s injuries and Ino always insisted on sharing a room and a bed or futon on joined missions and they've been to hot springs together more than Ino could count and—

Sakura kisses her. It's slow and not like any other kisses Ino has ever had and it makes her head spin.  _ Where the hell did she learn this? _ she thinks, as Sakura's tongue darts across her bottom lip and takes advantage of Ino's gasp to deepen the kiss. Ino's fingers dig into her thighs and Sakura  _ whimpers,  _ and that's enough for Ino to gather up strength and roll them over. She takes the lip glosses out of Sakura's hand and tries to ignore just how hard she was gripping them before lacing their fingers. 

They part for air quickly, but Sakura goes again immediately, looping an arm around Ino’s neck and hooking her legs on her lower back. Ino’s free hand starts making its way under her shirt and Sakura cants her hips up. Ino feels like she's dreaming; the fingers in her hair bring her back from cloud nine. Sakura pulls her back and she latches onto her neck instead, going lower and lower until she reaches the collar of her shirt.

“Wow,” Sakura pants and smiles at her. 

“Yeah,” Ino replies. Then she takes a deep breath, braces herself and looks Sakura straight in the eyes. “I'm in love with you.” 

“For someone who got inside of my head more than twice, you're very oblivious,” Sakura laughs. “I wouldn't kiss you if I didn't feel the same, stupid.” 

Ino beams and starts peppering kisses all over her face, making Sakura giggle. She squirms and catches Ino’s face between her palms, smile mirroring hers. “So, what about our girl's night out?” 

Ino snorts and hides her face in the space between her neck and shoulder. “Let's call it a girl's night in, hm?” Sakura squeezes her hand and that's enough of an answer. 

**5**

They're sitting on Ino's bed and eating takeout from Ichiraku, when Sakura blurts it out around a mouthful of noodles. 

“Move in together?” Ino repeats more to herself than to Sakura, but she nods anyway. 

“Well, I was thinking— I've known you for over ten years and we've been dating for three, and we won't spend our whole lives in our family homes anyway,” she explains, chopsticks in hand. “I'm getting my own place either way, but it'd be nice if we lived there together,” she finishes with a pout.

“No, you're right, it's just… Sudden.” 

Ino never thought of moving out; not because she was the clan heir, but because her mother rarely was home thanks to her work, making the house feel like it was solely Ino's anyway. She's also made it clear to both of them that they can use all the empty rooms or even divide the house in two if they wanted, and Ino always thought that if they were to start living together, Sakura would just move in. 

“You don't have to decide right away, you bimbo. I'm moving next month.” 

And when next month comes, Ino is standing barefoot on the wooden floor surrounded by various boxes and taking a break from moving them. Sakura comes up behind her and hugs her, skin warm even through the thick layer of Ino's sweater. “You're thinking too loud.” 

“Shut up,” she laughs and smacks Sakura's arm lightly. “Just reminiscing. I spent most of my life here, you know? This room remembers my short hair.” They both laugh at that and Ino interlocks her fingers with Sakura's. It's not like her to be nostalgic, but if the walls in this room could speak, she's sure they would tell a million stories. And she would sit down and listen, even if she's the main character in all of them. 

“We live just on the other end of the village, not in another country. Is there even a point in getting nostalgic over this?” 

“Go back to moving boxes, muscle freak,” Ino comments with no bite in her voice. “You're ruining my moment.”

Maybe Sakura's right. It's not like Ino's leaving for Water Country and never coming back here; but it still feels weird knowing next time she wakes up, the room around her will look differently. The sunlight won't filter into the room the same way, the bed will be on another wall and there's going to be a bigger wardrobe.  _ Weird. _

But then she remembers who will be sharing that space with her and she gets giddy, her body tingling with excitement. That's part of growing up, she supposes. 

**(+1)**

Ino screeches as Sakura hoists her up into her arms out of nowhere. “‘Kura, we have so much stuff to unpack, stop joking around!” 

“Party pooper.” Sakura sticks out her tongue at her and Ino narrows her eyes. Sakura doesn't put her down, though, and makes her way towards the bedroom. Ino lands on the bed unceremoniously and wheezes when Sakura falls on top of her. 

“You're awful,” Ino says and takes a strand of Sakura's hair between her fingers to play with. “The worst,” she adds and relaxes into the fresh sheets. 

“Wasn't what you said when I managed to put the TV stand together.” 

“You're awful but useful, I admit.” She skims her fingers over Sakura's arms, feeling the muscles tense up on purpose. “Show off.” 

Sakura just nuzzles her neck and lets out a content sigh. After a few minutes Ino hears a faint snore and all she can do is chuckle.

**Author's Note:**

> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/mi6okise?s=21)


End file.
